


Hothouse Friendship

by TheseusInTheMaze



Category: The Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: F/F, Femslash, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-27
Updated: 2010-09-27
Packaged: 2017-10-12 06:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/121660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheseusInTheMaze/pseuds/TheseusInTheMaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria and Rani learn a few things about each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hothouse Friendship

There were different kinds of friendship, Maria reflected, sprawled out on Rani's bed. There were the easy friendships, the ones that would survive anything, whether it be alien attacks or unexpected crushes. Like her and Luke and Clyde and Sarah Jane. Their friendship survived countless alien invasions, bad parties, and unexpected declarations of love brought on by aforementioned alien invasions. They were like the morning glories that Sarah Jane was always trying to keep from climbing up her back garden - nearly impossible to uproot. They were wildflower friendships, friendships that held on and grew, no matter what the circumstances.

Then there were other kinds of friendships. They were delicate things, dependent on just the right emotional temperature, the right atmosphere, the right kind of soil to germinate in. One wrong move, wrong kind of water, one change in atmosphere, and the friendship would whither and die. It was a hothouse friendship, beautiful and no doubt precious, but at the same time, exhausting to maintain. Maria wasn't usually one for hothouse friendships - too much energy, too much effort. But sometimes, she was thrown into situations where she ended up in a hothouse friendship, and she did the best she could to maintain it, if only because she hated to see things whither.

The friendship Maria shared with Rani was a hothouse friendship. Oh, sure, they were friendly, they laughed, they saved the world together. But the thing was… the thing was, even though it wasn't talked about, Rani had come into Sarah Jane's life just after Maria left it. Rani was taller than Maria, more curious, with better grades. She was like Maria 2.0, and Maria resented her for it, even though she knew it was unreasonable. Rani, in turn, felt like she was being held up against Maria and found wanting, because while she might have been brilliant and funny, she was still not Maria, and as far as Luke was concerned, that was all there was to it.

But they were both friends with Sarah Jane, and their mothers had somehow managed to meet, and Chrissie and Gita had come under some kind of delusion that they two girls were best girlfriends. Possibly because both mothers wanted their daughters to have friends who weren't boys, and possibly because Chrissie realized that Rani was involved in the whole "saving the world" thing. She had also said something about feeling uncomfortable about her daughter staying with "some other alien fighter who lived all alone", and didn't want Maria to be a burden to Martha. That, and Chrissie wanted the flat to herself for reasons that probably involved Ivan, and Maria didn't want to think about walking in on Ivan and Chrissie. Even staying with Rani was preferable to seeing Ivan on top of her mother on the kitchen table.

Which was why she was currently sprawled out on Rani's bed, chin cushioned in her arms, staring vaguely out the window at Sarah Jane's house across the street. It was quiet - almost awkwardly quiet - but Maria was trying to frame her thoughts while lying in Rani's bed, which was in the spot where her bed used to be. The bed she'd had her first wet dream in, masturbated for the first time in, thinking vaguely of Sarah Jane and Luke and Clyde and the good looking fellow in the bowtie who had winked at her on the bus. At that moment, she was also thinking about Martha Jones, and the long discussion they'd had the week before, one embarrassing evening. Specifically, Martha's advice. _"If you don't want Sarah Jane to see you as a kid, show her you're not."_

Maria was fairly mature for her age in a lot of ways, but at the same time, it wasn't a sophisticated type of mature. It wasn't the type of mature that dazzled glamorous older women off of their feet; it was the type of mature that made her peers look at her a bit oddly and her (admittedly gorgeous) boss have her hand over the scalpels as she dissected giant cephalopods from outer space. Rani, however, was mature. Men's eyes followed her, and some women's. She knew the proper way to sit, to lean, to smile, and Maria might have been imagining it, but she had a feeling that Sarah Jane's eyes followed Rani with something a bit different from the fondness that she wore when she looked at Luke or Clyde. So she would suck up her pride and ask for some advice.

"Say… Rani?" She poked Rani gently on the shoulder with the tip of her finger. They were getting to that point where they could touch each other, casual type touching.

"Yeah?" Rani looked up at her from where she had been watching telly. It was a movie that didn't involve aliens, because whenever the members of Sarah Jane's little "we save the world" club watched those movies, they ended up nitpicking, and while nitpicking is all well and good, on occasion a person simply wanted to rest their brain. This movie certainly gave the brain a rest.

"What would you do if you fancied someone?" It was beyond absurd to be asking her rival for romantic advice, but there was a sort of delicious irony to it all. Besides, if she asked Chrissie she'd never hear the end of it and she'd probably have to make up some mystery fellow just to get her to _shut up_ , and the whole thing would just be more trouble than it was worth.

"Why, d'you?" Rani turned around, glad for something to distract her from the movie. "Who is it?"

"Oh… just someone," Maria said uneasily, sitting up and propping her elbows on her knees. This discussion was becoming a bit too much like the one she'd had with Martha. "It isn't important. What would you do, if you fancied someone?"

"Well… I guess it would depend on the person." Rani made a thinking face, absently chewing on a piece of dark hair. "If it was, say, Luke, I'd try to impress him with my maths and things like that, I think." She grinned cheekily at Maria. "It's Luke, isn't it?"

"Does it matter?" Maria's voice was harsh - a cold gust of wind rushing into the delicate hothouse environment, tingeing the leaves with a deadly frost - and Maria hastened to shut the (metaphorical) door and restore the original temperature as she watched something in Rani's face go hard. "I mean… because you seem to know what you're doing about these kinds of things, and I've kinda been busy dealing with aliens and all that…."

Rani's expression stayed stony. "Well, I've been dealing with the aliens too, in case you hadn't noticed," she said, but her face softened somewhat. "And, well, it depends on the person." She shifted around, so that she was facing Maria, albeit looking slightly up at her from her perch on the floor.

"Are there certain things a lot of people like?" Maria fiddled with the hem of her pajama shirt - some things never changed, it seemed. The second awkward conversation (on the same subject, even!) while wearing pajamas in a week.

"Well, touching someone if they don't mind it, smiling a lot, agreeing with 'em, things like that. But I thought you knew that kind of thing." Rani's grin turned slightly teasing. "You do it with Luke all the time, after all."

Maria glared at Rani for a moment - Maria wasn't the only one who could disturb the hothouse atmosphere. "I don't fancy Luke," she said, leaning back against the sloping wall. "Although judging by your criteria, I'd say you fancy Clyde." Another door yanked open, more cold air shriveling delicate leaves.

Rani flushed, her dark cheeks turning darker. "Well, if we're going to talk about flirting, we can't leave out the way you flirt with Sarah Jane, can we?"

Maria froze, staring down at Rani with wide eyes. That wasn't an opened door - that was a broken window, which would take a lot of effort to repair, and even then, would never be exactly the same.

Rani froze as well, seeing Maria's reaction. "Never mind, forget I said anything," she said, looking down at her hands. She might have been jealous of Maria - perfect, funny, hiding-aliens-in-America Maria - but that had been rather uncalled for.

"No, it's alright," Maria said stiffly, looking down at her hands, then into Rani's face. "Is it… is it obvious? That I fancy Sarah Jane, I mean."

"Well, um, a little bit, but only if you're really looking for it." Rani intertwined her fingers, pressing her thumbs together.

"So you're looking for it?" Maria was vaguely surprised at how acidic her voice was - another window broken in the hothouse, no doubt.

"Well, no, not as such… exactly." Rani glanced up at Maria. "Well, I mean, Sarah Jane is…." Amazing. Smart. Funny. Gorgeous. "Sarah Jane." She grinned crookedly, a futile attempt at mending the broken window. "I can't blame you."

"It'd be quite hypocritical of you if you did," Maria said snidely, and another window in the hothouse was broken.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rani's eyes narrowed.

"Well…," Maria examined her hands. "You're not exactly subtle." She was taking a cricket bat to the hothouse windows now, and the delicate things growing inside of it would probably all die. She was surprised at how much it didn't bother her.

"Neither are you," Rani said, and now she was definitely glaring, her nails biting into her palms.

"It's not like either of us could do anything about it anyway," Maria said, because she'd thought of it before, on those long nights in this very room and her room in America. Thinking of billions of different scenarios, each of them hitting the wall that Sarah Jane would never see her that way, no matter how much she hoped.

"Why not?" Rani stood up, crossing her arms and glaring down at Maria.

"Because… Sarah Jane doesn't like girls, as far as we know," Maria said, and looked up into Rani's face - into Rani's eyes. She was surprised at the expression she saw in them - it was a wildflower expression, a sink-the-roots-deep expression. Maybe she'd been thinking of this friendship the wrong way. Maybe it wasn't entirely a hothouse friendship, because she wasn't being fair to Rani, and Rani knew something of what Maria was going through, the way Martha had, in her own small way. Loving an amazing, impossible person, although at least Sarah Jane wasn't quite as distant as the Doctor.

"It couldn't hurt to ask," Rani said, sitting down on the bed next to Maria, close enough that their knees touched, her hands on her own knees. Maybe she had seen the forgiveness in Maria's eyes.

"Oh yes, we could go right up to Sarah Jane and say "Hi, we both fancy you, which one of us would you be willing to snog?" Maria giggled, because for the first time she felt… comfortable with Rani, away from glass walls and carefully maintained temperatures.

"Well… no," Rani said, then, "How long? Have you fancied her, I mean." The tips of her long fingers were just barely on the inside of her Maria's thigh, and both girls were acutely aware of it, and equally too embarrassed to do anything about it.

"Since… well, since she saved me from the Bane," Maria said, her eyes on the spot where their knees were pressed together, her light green pajama pants contrasting against Rani's dark skin. "She was so… heroic and so… beautiful." She blushed, looking down at her lap, then up at Rani, and smiled a bit nervously. "How about you?"

Rani shrugged, looking embarrassed. "I… don't really know when, exactly, except now…." She blushed. "How obvious is it?"

"Only if you're looking for it," Maria said, and that might have been a bit of a nasty comment, but hothouses weren't all demolished in one go.

Rani swallowed. "Since we're being so very… sharing," she said in a voice that was only slightly shaking, "could I ask something slightly awkward?"

"Yeah?" Maria stared up at Rani - maybe it was her youthful hormones (as her father so charmingly put it after he caught her browsing porn on their PC in America), or maybe it was the shared experience she had with Rani, but at the moment, the thing she wanted to do more than anything else was to kiss Rani Chandra. A proper kiss, better than the kiss she had given Martha Jones.

"D'you think you're… y'know, gay? Or is it just Sarah Jane?" Rani was leaning forward slightly, her breath warm against Maria's mouth.

Maria shrugged. "I snogged Martha Jones," she said with a tiny bit of pride, and she was leaning forward as well, until her forehead was almost bumping against Rani's.

Rani's eyebrows went up - those in the saving the world business tended to know each other. She'd met Martha a few times, when the gorgeous doctor came to visit Sarah Jane. "What, really?"

"Yeah," Maria said.

"But that doesn't count," Rani said, grinning slightly. "'cause Martha's that gorgeous that she'd make anyone want to kiss her, even if they were the straightest person ever." Not a very creative line, but Rani was beginning to feel a bit… distracted.

"Well… I guess maybe I'm gay?" Maria shrugged, remembering her conversation with Martha about all of the nuances of human sexuality. "What about you? Are you gay?"

"Nah, I like boys. I just… like girls, too." Rani shrugged as well. When she moved like that, her breasts jiggled, and Maria moved her eyes down, to examine her hands.

"So… you ever snogged someone?" Maria's hand rested on top of Rani's, her other one going to Rani's knee.

"Not really, no." Rani was blushing. "Well, I did kiss Clyde once, but that was right before Sontarans stormed the big warehouse we were hiding in, so I'm not entirely sure if that counts."

Maria giggled. She couldn't help herself. Only people in their rather small social circle would have understood pre-alien attack nerves. "We live a weird life, don't we?" She was whispering, not entirely sure why.

Rani leaned forward, pressing her lips against Maria's. It was a spontaneous kiss, their noses bumping together and their teeth clicking, and when she pulled back, they were both breathing a bit heavier, their faces flushed.

"So… are there aliens outside?" Maria mumbled, then jerked forward, crashing her lips against Rani's. She wasn't thinking, wasn't being reasonable or rational, just acting. She was kissing Rani, because it seemed like a good idea and Sarah Jane was always telling them to trust their instincts. This was different from any kisses she'd had before - she could feel herself shaking, feel like something hot was thrumming through her veins. The last time she'd kissed someone, she had been nervous, and the person she had been kissing wasn't entirely sure if she was doing the right thing. This time….

Rani was kissing Maria. Her hands were buried in Maria's thick hair, cupping the back of her head. When Maria's hands moved to her shoulders, she shivered and prodded at the seam of Maria's lips with her tongue. Before either girl was entirely sure what was going on, Maria was on her back, Rani's hands planted on either side of her head. Rani's was practically on top of Maria, her knees pressing into the other girl's ribs and her pajama top hanging off of her,

Maria broke their kiss, panting heavily. "W-what are we doing?" Her voice was a bit squeakier than usual. She would have been embarrassed, and some small part of her was, but it was buried under the blaze of hormones and several other unidentifiable emotions.

"I'd say we're snogging," Rani said, and pressed her forehead against Maria's forehead. The big, stuffy hothouse was gone - there were wildflowers growing. True, they might have been delicate wildflowers, more susceptible to frost, but at the same time, they were wildflowers. "Unless you don't want to?"

"No, no, I like snogging," Maria said, shifting the tiniest bit. She could see down Rani's pajama top, and she was tempted to reach out and take a handful of the other girl's breast. She settled for putting her hands on Rani's hips. "But… are we still… friends?" She didn't know if she wanted to date Rani - she did know she wanted to snog her, maybe even more. It wasn't the physical stuff that she was nervous about, which was a bit surprising - from what she'd heard, the physical stuff was the scariest part. But she was more uncomfortable about her mother seeing her with Rani, or Sarah Jane, doing things like holding hands.

Rani bit her lip, making a thinking face. She sat up, depriving Maria of the view down her top, and rested her weight on Maria's hips. "Would you want to… go on a date or something?" This was tricky territory, but there were still butterflies in her belly, pleasant ones. There was tingling below the belt, of course, but this part was important.

"I… yeah, I think I'd like that." Maria smiled crookedly. "Although it'd be interrupted by an alien attack." She was tracing little circles on Rani's hips with her thumbs, enjoying the feel of Rani's hands on her belly, not really touching, just resting. The fingertips were about an inch away from the bottom of her breast.

"So… tomorrow, barring any kind of alien attack, would you want to go to ice cream after we go to see Sarah Jane?" Rani bit her lip, squirming. Maria's little circles were having an effect, and it was taking conscious effort not to wriggle her hips.

"Sure," Maria said, and smiled. "Can we start kissing again? Since it's official, I mean." She was discovering that she liked kissing - she liked these wildflowers much more than the hothouse, and she wanted to savor them, discover all of the different types of flowers.

"Well, if you insist," Rani said, her voice taking on a slightly laughing cadence. She leaned down, moving her hands to Maria's shoulders, and kissed her again, slower, savoring the feel of Maria's mouth.

Rani tasted like toothpaste and faintly like popcorn and something that Maria didn't have a name for. Her nose was cold against Maria's cheek, both of them, and her pajama shirt was bunching up under Maria's fingertips, the skin of her sides smooth under Maria's palms. She was finally getting into the rhythm of kissing Rani, even as her hands roamed across Rani's back and her legs twined around Rani's, her bare feet brushing against Rani's socked ones.

"Hey girls, it's just me, thought I'd stop by to say goodn-" Gita opened the door to Rani's room and stopped, staring at the two of them.

Rani sat up with as much dignity as she could muster, sitting on Maria's hips. "Mum, you ever heard of knocking?" Her hair was messed, her lips were swollen, but she still managed come out slightly haughty.

"Right. Sorry." Gita was in such a state of shock that she just closed the door.

Rani looked down at Maria, and the both of them burst out laughing. "Well…," she said, and kissed Maria on the mouth again, still giggling. This kiss was less desperate, and Maria kept stopping to giggle.

"What's so funny?" Rani looked down at Maria, tracing her lips with one long finger.

"Your mum is going to call my mum and I just know…." Her mobile rang, and Maria groaned, wriggling to get out from under Rani.

"Do you have to answer it?" Rani leaned down to kiss Maria again, but Maria dodged it, grabbing her jacket and pulling her mobile out the pocket.

"Your mum just called my mum, and then my mum is going to call Sarah Jane and your mum will probably go to see Sarah Jane, and if I don't answer, she's going to call your mum and your mum is going to think we're snogging again and come running in." She answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Maria, you'll never believe who just called me!" Chrissie sounded like her usual cheery self, but there was a bit of mania behind it.

"Who called you, mum?" Maria bit her lip to keep from giggling as Rani's fingers traced around her ears. She glared at her friend, but it didn't seem to bother Rani.

"Gita Chandra! Who would've thought, right?" There was a nervous laugh, so loud that Maria held the phone away from her ear for a moment. "And I wanted to tell you, congratulations on finally getting a… on finally…. Congratulations! You _must_ invite Rani to dinner."

Maria groaned, and Rani gave her a concerned look. "Mum… I'll talk to you later. It's late. I'm going to sleep now."

"Oh, is Rani there? Put 'er on, there's a love."

Maria covered her eyes with one hand and held the phone out to Rani.

Rani took the phone. "Hello?" She rubbed the back of her neck, her face flushing.

"Hi Rani! So you're my new daughter in law, hm? Well, you're a lovely girl, and you'll have to come over for dinner, we can have a nice chat."

Maria was flushing, trying not to laugh and blushing at the same time as Rani bit back her laughter.

"Yeah… that'd be nice," Rani said, tracing her name out on Maria's belly with her fingertip.

"So it seems that the whole saving the world thing turns you queer, doesn't it? Does Sally Mae have a girlfriend hidden away somewhere? I'll have a nice talk with her too, when I come to pick Maria up."

Rani winced. "Well, um, it's getting late and we'll be helping Sarah Jane tomorrow so we should probably get to bed."

Chrissie cackled on the other end. "Put Maria on sweetheart."

Rani handed Maria the phone, still grinning somewhat. Chrissie was a funny woman, even if she didn't intend to be.

"I'll be leavin' you two to go to bed now," Chrissie said, and the leer was obvious. "Do us a favor and keep it above the waist?"

"Mum!" Maria was blushing furiously.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow. Lots of love!" Chrissie hung up, leaving Maria to stare at the phone with a slightly shell shocked expression.

"Your mum…." She tried to find the words.

"Yeah," Maria said, then winced. "I wonder what she's going to say to Sarah Jane."

They both winced, then Rani yawned. "It is nearly midnight," she said, looking at her clock. "We should probably go to sleep."

"Yeah," Maria said, and there was a bit of an awkward silence "Would it be alright if… if I slept up here?"

"Yeah, long as your elbows don't poke me," Rani said, and smiled slightly, getting off of Maria's hips and rolling onto her side.

Maria reached over, turning the lights out, and rolled onto her side as well. When she felt Rani's hand rest nervously on her belly, the arm draped across her side, she sighed and closed her eyes. Rani's arm reminded her of the morning glories climbing up the side of Sarah Jane's house, and it made her smile, at the thought of those hardy, stubborn plants. Rather like Rani, really. She didn't know where they were going from there - would they be dating or just snogging or what - but for this moment she let herself be held, felt Rani's breath across the top of her head, and imagined how Sarah Jane, Clyde, and Luke would react to all of this.


End file.
